1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to the field of printed or printable tags and/or labels. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a printed or printable item which may be utilized as a tag or a label, depending on the needs of the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, pre-printed or printable tags and pre-printed or printable labels were separate items. For each case, the tags or the labels were produced by laminating a printable face sheet with the appropriate adhesive sandwiched between the face sheet and a release liner. In the case of a tag, the appropriated adhesive would be a dry gum or similar type, which would cure such that it would have no tack when de-laminated from the liner. In the case of a label, the appropriate adhesive would be a pressure sensitive type, which maintains the ability to adhere to another surface after being de-laminated from the liner. The prior art was directed to the providing of discrete items which were separately either tags or labels. The prior art items did not provide the ability to be used as either a tag or a label, or the ability to be used first as a label and then later be used as a tag or a label. These problems are solved by the present invention.
The present invention relates to a pre-printed or printable item which may be utilized either as a tag or a label, depending on the needs of the user. The item may be formed as a laminated multi-layered sheet, or fan folded, and may be wound into a roll configuration to be unwound during use. The item in one embodiment includes alternating layers, including a printed or printable face sheet, a dry gum type adhesive, a release liner, a pressure sensitive adhesive layer, another release liner, another pressure sensitive adhesive layer, and a final release layer. The item includes precise cuts through the various layers of the laminated materials to expose to the user edges of the item which allow the item to be removed according to required use. In one embodiment, separate cuts are preformed such that the face sheet may be removed with only the dry gum adhesive on an opposite side, allowing the item to be used as a tag because the dry gum adhesive loses its adhesive properties after being removed from the release layer. Alternately, the face sheet may be removed together with the release liner, such that a pressure sensitive adhesive is exposed on the opposite side of the face sheet, allowing the item to be used as a label because the pressure sensitive adhesive maintains its adhesive properties after being removed from the underlying release liner. Also, the face sheet may be removed with two layers of release liner, such that the item may be applied as a label and then removed and re-applied as a label or may at any time be used as a tag. The various cuts into the laminated multi-layered web allow a user to choose the mode of use for the item.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an item which may be used as either a label or a tag.
It is a further object to provide an item which may be first used as a label, and may be removed and re-applied as a label, or may at any time be used as a tag.
It is a further object to provide an item which has discrete edges presented to a user which allows the user to choose whether the item is to be utilized as a label or a tag.
These and other objects are realized by the present invention.